Blinded by the truth
by Ultimate Shino
Summary: The child was blinded, tortured mentally and physically, and never learned to believe in himself. Naruto, done my way. CLOSED, due to renovations.


**Epilogue**

What could the 4th have been thinking? The boy had just been born. No name or family to speak of, no one was even sure where the child had come from. And no one who knew what he contained would have anything to do with him. The gray haired man sitting behind the desk looked at the child asleep in the basket in front of him, the seal still visible on his belly. There had already been an attempt on his life, a nurse whose care he had been put in for a moment, after the news that the Yondiame had been found dead, with the child in his arms, in the middle of the battlefield littered with the bodies of the other Leaf Nin. Traces of the Kyuubi's energy were still swirling around the child so it was easy to guess what had happened.

He could force a family to take him, but resentment for the only survivor of the great tragedy was already spreading though the ranks and city. He wished he could keep the child with him, but he was already in a precarious position. He had retaken the position of Hokage because there was no one else at the time and it was necessary that they keep a strong face even after the great loss. He already had too much to deal with and this child sleeping in front of him, sucking on his thumb was the greatest of all. An adoption home was the only choice that the Hokage could think of. He had already ordered a list of them from his secretary. In the morning, he would find one, and make it law that the boy be treated as any other; anyone who stepped against the child would have to face the most powerful man in the city. He looked at the whisker marks on his cheeks, wondering if they would disappear or grow with time, knowing that they would be a reminder to any who looked on him as to who he was.

As he brushed a finger over the baby's cheek and the boy opened his eyes for a moment. Their eyes locked, his aged gray-green eyes and the youthful brilliant blue. He presented the last thing he could ever give this child, because the law applied to him as well. "Uzumaki Naruto… yes, that shall be you name. In your future lies many hardships, though I am sure that you will overcome them all. Don't disappoint me," he looked over at the other pictures of the previous Hokage. "Or him," as he looked at the most recent. Then he looked back at the baby and found that he had already gone back to sleep.

But the next few years were not filled with light and hope as the Hokage had desperately hoped for. More attempts were made on the boy's life until he had to assign two Anbu to guard over him in secret for anyone who would threaten his life. But the Anbu could only do so much, and they would watch on, as people slapped the boy out of their way, kicked him, verbally attacked him, throw stones and other things. The orphanage wasn't much better at all. He was always placed at the end of the line for food and was given the scrapings that were left. When he was picked on by the other children for his whisker marks the adults did nothing to step in, but if he tried to fight back against them he was punished until he didn't fight back at all, just taking the blows and bruises that healed by morning, something he couldn't explain. The children seeing the way he was treated by the adults did everything they could to make the boy's life miserable. He was allowed no personal belongings and anything he tried to keep was taken from him. He was dressed in old clothes that had been donated to the orphanage, he was forced to wear a small, tattered, black and light orange kimono that no one had wanted, but he didn't care.

It didn't take too long at all for the boy to be broken in by those oppressors. He would sometimes take refuge in libraries, and though he was never allowed to take the books out, he would find a corner and a book and start reading, for hours and hours on end. It was the only time the boy ever felt some sort of release from his worldly pains. However, all things progress in time and sooner or later he had to put the book down, and he would remember his life, feeling locked away like an elephant, trapped in chains.

No one looked out for him, only himself. He couldn't dare rely on another person, and even when he found content in himself, he felt something inside him, something trying to break out. It was furious and strong. It was like some strange beast of sorts, roaring out, trying to break free of the chains that must have held it back as well.

One night, when he was ten, Naruto was walking back from a bookstore, he had finally gathered up enough money to get something he had always wanted, a book of his own. It wasn't very big, just a small little story book about a man who had willpower and heart som strong, that he was able to overcome any obstacle that was thrown at him, any evil that came his way, and so forth. He wanted to be like the man, he wanted to be strong enough to see himself through anything that came his way. It was then that he walked into a man and fell down, the book falling out of his hands. He was grabbed roughly and lifted into the air, where he came face to face with a pain of ocular shades **(You get three guesses as to who this is)**.

"Hey child, watch where you're going!" the man was obviously a ninja, and the smell of alcohol on his breath would make one very uncertain as to if he were drunk or not. This man took a moment to recognize the child he was holding up before a sudden gleam came to the glasses of the man. _It's the Kyuubi brat…! How dare he run into someone like me! I should teach this impudent kid a lesson…_ the man smiled wickedly when he had gone on to notice that their was no ANBU to be found at the moment and rashly threw the boy to the ground. Yes… he was going to enjoy this.

Naruto on the other hand just wanted to be left alone as he was dropped and crumpled to the ground, holding his belly, tears forming in his eyes. _Why is he doing this…? What did I eve do to- my book!_ He looked over and saw the book on the ground, he reaches over with a trembling hand to get the book, keep it safe, that was all he wanted. But the man didn't let him, he stepped on the boy's wrist increasing the pressure until a rather audible crack was heard. Naruto was immediately started whimpering in pain, he didn't want to cry out, he knew that only meant more pain, but the man didn't stop there. He reaches down and picked up the book.

"What is this…? Did you steal this…?" The man didn't care, so long as it gave him another reason to punish the boy. He looked and the title and was furious. What Naruto had thought was a fantasy book was actually, "The Young Life of the Yondaime." This brat… he actually dared read about the great Yondaime In his fury the man stopped down on the wrist and smiled at the sound of another satisfying snapping of bone. "I might have gone easier on you, but not now, you killed this man! Can you understand that, brat?"

The sad part was that Naruto didn't understand, he just wanted to be left alone, he wanted to go back to the orphanage that hated him, and read the book by the moonlight. That was better than this, at least. He was in so much pain, his wrist was broken and he was sure of it, he knew it would heal, but it didn't stop it from hurting so much. It wasn't the first time, no… He had been pushed down the stares a few months ago and had ended up with a broken leg, it took two days to heal, but it did. The man was talking and kicking him in the stomach, but Naruto was fading out, he felt like he as falling, his eyes glazed over when he realized that no one was going to save him.

And on the other hand, the entire time throughout the beating, The shaded man was pissed. All this time, Their was something he didn't like… something in his stupid eyes that looked so close to comfort that made the ninja feel rather mad at himself. He couldn't focus, he couldn't concentrate on the beating, and he was continuously drawn to his eyes until he simply couldn't take it anymore. He picked up the boy by his throat, staring at him with a murderous intent.

"I don't like that look in your eyes, brat! I don't ever want to see it again!" The words stung Naruto's ears like needles. With his free hand, the man went on to reach into his pocket for one of his kunai. Naruto, who had no idea what the man was planning, but once he saw the kunai, he was sure of one thing, that this was going to be painful. He suddenly began to struggle, fear for his life in him, and squeezed uselessly on the man's vice grip arm. The man had only grinned more. This was going to make him famous. He would go down in history. So what if he was forbidden to kill the brat. They were alone, it was extremely late, and no guards were to be found. This was his only chance. "You… I'll make sure that you never look at anyone again!" The last thing that he had saw, was the shift in the man's movements, and a plunging kunai that was running straight to his face.

A month passed. Judgments were made. The Hokage was furious. At that night, everyone was alerted as to the boy's attack, as a bloodcurdling scream was heard, but when the ANBU had arrived, it was too late. The perpetrator had escaped. The ANBU, noticing the boy's state of being didn't help much either, alerting the medic nins to immediately come to the scene. Fortunately, luck had shined on Naruto that night for he was to be treated by a few new and old recruits of the hospital, who either believed in him as the savior of the village, or felt the need to save him because he was still considered a human being. They worked restlessly on will alone at times, with the hokage waiting outside of the emergency room. By the time the most severe part of the surgery was done, the minor cut and wounds had healed themselves alone.

That was a month ago. The hokage had taken every bit of time that he was allowed out of his day to stay at the boy's side… it had seemed that he would never regain conciousness… until the old man had noticed a minor movement of boy's fingers. "Naruto-kun… are you awake?" He asked slowly and uncertainly, staring at the boy's banged body. The response to his call was a moan of either pain, or physical limiting taking it's role in the play. "…Hokage… sama…?" He answered weakly, afraid to test out how long his voice would work. It was dark to him. Pitch black, and he was so curious to know exactly where the man's voice came from, that he had went on to raise his right arm upwards, trying to find the old man's body. Why was it so dark in the room?

Watching the boy struggle to find him had almost broken the old man's heart. The poor boy… How could he have let this happen to him? "Naruto-kun… lower your arm, rest yourself. It's okay, I'm right here." That wasn't enough at all. Naruto wanted to know where 'right here' was. He needed to know why it was so dark! "But… Hokage-sama… I can't see you." He spoke slowly, and once he'd finished his words, he felt the old man reach down and gently take hold of his hand. The man had sighed before he went on to speak again.

That's because… you've been blinded, Naruto-kun."


End file.
